


Jhosting

by ElementalGhosting



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Car Accidents, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Gen, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Not Really Character Death, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementalGhosting/pseuds/ElementalGhosting
Summary: Joe gets hit by a car and dies. The end.No, it’s not that simple. Of course, he just had to become a ghost after death. He’s forced to watch his friends suffer, as dealing with his loss is proving to be... difficult... for some of them.Joe is a ghost for a reason, and he’s determined to find out what that reason may be. He needs help. And how does he get it? By asking his friends, of course!Oh yeah. He’s dead. He almost forgot.And the first challenge will be to get everyone  to believe that he exists.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

Rain stained the dusty windows, fat drops pounding loudly on the glass. Scar saw a flash of lightning as he paced around his living room in worry.

His heavy footsteps echoed throughout the house as he walked around his favorite couch, going from one side of the room to the other. He bit his lip in worry, always keeping one eye on his phone, waiting for a notification. 

There was a knock on the door. Scar rushed over to it, not even bothering to check the peephole before letting in the newcomer. 

It was Cub. 

Scar stopped himself from letting out a sigh of disappointment and stood aside, letting his roommate stagger into their three-person apartment. 

He was soaking wet and carrying grocery bags in both hands. Rain dripped off his white lab coat, splashing onto the already wet wooden floor. 

"Did you find Joe?" Scar asked worriedly.

Cub shook his head. "No sign of him anywhere."

Scar groaned exasperatedly. Running a hand thoughtfully through his hair, he sat down in his chair. Jellie wandered over to him, her tail high in the air as she saw an opportunity to lay in someone’s lap. The cat put a light paw on her owner’s leg as if asking for permission, then happily jumped onto the armchair as she got her nod of approval. 

Cub watched the pair as he placed his shopping on the kitchen counter.

"Where could he have gone off to?" Scar gestured animatedly with his hands, seeing that he got his roommate’s attention. "It's been three days, Cub!Three days since our fight! He should've come back by now!"

Cub took off his coat, walking back to the front hall and tossing it onto the rack. He sat down on the opposite couch in front of Scar, now in his navy blue undershirt. 

He nervously fiddled around with his fingers, not exactly sure what to do to help the situation. The scientist wanted to comfort and reassure Scar that Joe was fine, but he was also worried about their third roommate. 

Joe was a rational person, and would rarely get genuinely angry in a fight. Therefore, after the poet stormed off into the street a couple of days back, Cub and Scar were sure that he would come back in the following hour after he cooled down. It was unlike him to be gone for days at a time. 

Cub was snapped out of his many thoughts by a wail. His glare, along with that of Scar’s tired cat, was enough to get the cowboy to shut up. 

Scar cast his gaze downwards, his hat forming a large shadow over his eyes. His mouth formed into a sheepish grin. "This whole situation is my fault, I shouldn't have pushed Joe over the edge," he mumbled. "I thought that teasing him about his poems was a good idea, how was I supposed to know that he would react so aggressively? I figured if I pestered him enough he would finally show them to us, but instead I just made him really upset."

Cub frowned at the man, reaching into the pocket of his shirt and taking out a slice of cake, wrapped-up in plastic. He smiled at his friend, trying to appear more reassuring. "Come on, don't be like that!" he said kindly, walking up to the man in the brown coat and offering him his favorite snack. "Joe has always been kind of mysterious, and maybe he has his own reasons to be like that," Cub argued. “He likes to keep a lot of things to himself, such as his poems, probably. I agree that you shouldn’t have tried to guilt-trip him into showing you his works, but the whole situation isn’t completely your fault. Joe was a bit of an asshole at the end there as well.”

Scar looked up at him with sad eyes, taking off his hat and letting it rest on the floor. "But we're his friends," he pointed out. "Whatever it is he's doing, I just wanted to see it! I live with him and I show you guys everything, so why can’t he just do the same to us?”

Cub, personally, thought that the man in front of him was completely overreacting. It was completely in Joe’s right to withhold the projects that he did, and he completely understood the man’s reaction to Scar’s demands. However, storming away from the apartment in a rage, saying that he’ll find other roommates who would actually respect him, was taking it too far.

"You know Joe- he’s very introverted and closed off. It’s not like him to reveal things that easily, especially if it‘s kind of personal, like his poems," he pointed out, putting his arm around Scar’s shoulder while still offering him the cake.

Scar gingerly took it from him, still a little hesitant to eat. "But what if he never comes back? What if this time I pushed him away for real?“ In a quieter voice, he whispered, “I really don’t want him to move away... and said not to expect him back so soon…"

Climbing back onto his own couch, Cub maintained eye-contact with the cat owner in front of him. "Listen, buddy, people tend to exaggerate things when they're angry. But he'll definitely come back!" he reassured Scar. "He just needs some time to think and clear his mind and reflect for a bit. I'm sure once he realizes his mistake he'll come back here."

Scar gave a slight smile. "You really think so?"

"Of course dude!" Cub grinned as Scar took a bite of the cake. "In fact, I wouldn't even be surprised if Joe showed up at our doorstep... right about now."

The doorbell rang.

Scar choked on his cake and nearly would have dropped the rest of it if it wasn’t for Cub rushing to his side. The pair looked at each other in astonishment, then at the door, then right back at each other. Scar’s eyes were wide, and his mouth opened and closed without making any sound. 

Is it? Scar asked silently, and Cub nodded, clearly having the same thought. The pair rushed to the door with the cowboy in the lead, equally large grins on both of their faces. Jellie tumbled off her owner’s lap, letting out a loud, disgruntled meow. It went completely ignored.

Scar made it to the doorknob first. He gripped it tightly in his hand, twisted, and swung it open without any sort of hesitation.

"JOE-!"

His roommate’s ecstatic cry faded into nothing once he realized it was not his friend who stood at his doorstep, but rather a pair of police officers. One was leaning against the wall, his hat covering a large portion of his face in shadow. Glasses perched on his nose, magnifying his emerald-green eyes. His arms were crossed over his chest and dark tufts of hair could be seen poking out from beneath his cap. A black and red ribbon was tied around his wrist. The one who was closest to the door was a shorter man with black, fluffy hair, brown eyes, tan skin, and a silly-looking blue face mask that didn’t match the intensity in his eyes. As soon as Scar opened the door, the man straightened his position, pulling his mask down his chin to speak clearly. 

"Mr. Cub Fan?" the officer asked.

Cub pushed his roommate out of the way and looked at the two strangers nervously, taking a step back inside and closing the door a little. "Um, yeah, t-that's my name," he answered hesitantly.

The man dipped his head a little. "I'm Officer Ahmed, and this—" he motioned to the other cop behind him, who gave a wave and a little smile in return. "—is my partner, Officer Noveschosch. I'm afraid we have some bad news to you sirs."

"What's up?" Scar asked, coming up beside his roommate and taking a better look at the people at the door of their apartment.

Officer Ahmed shot Cub a somewhat forced smile. "Is he your relative?" he questioned. 

The scientist looked back at his roommate nervously. "Uh... no, he's just a, uh, friend…" he nervously stammered. 

Getting a sudden burst of courage, Cub closed the door a little more and proceeded to glare at the officer. "Listen, we're kind of busy right now, and we’re not interested in any surveys—"

"It's about Mr. Hills."

At those words, Cub shut up immediately. Scar shoved his roommate away from the door and opened it fully, eyes glistening with hope. 

"Did you find him?"he asked, taking a few steps forward to the dark-skinned officer. "How is he? Is he alright? Where did you find him? We were so worried! Can I see him?" He blurted out question after question at the officers, who seemed a bit fidgety. 

The first one looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the mask in his hands and avoiding eye contact. "Mr...?” he looked at Cub’s roommate questioningly. 

“Scar. My name is Scar.”

“Oh... Scar...” Officer Ahmed looked lost in thought. “I'm sorry. It is with great displeasure that I must inform you that Mr. Hills is dead."

Time seemed to slow down for Scar. His heart fully stopped, only to give a mighty leap and hammer against his ribcage like a caged bird. He felt like he couldn't breathe. 

His hands were shaky and he let the cake that Cub gave him drop onto the floor. His eyes remained fixed on the officer in front of him.

Scar took a hesitant step back into his apartment. 

He barely heard Cub’s gasp beside him, or feel his roommate’s reassuring hand touch his shoulder. He felt as if he was fading in and out of existence; he wasn't feeling anything at the moment, but also feeling too much at once.

"H-how?" Scar managed to whimper rather shakily. Breath wavering, his throat dry, and already feeling some tears clog his vision.

"We found Mr. Hills’s body on the side of the road earlier today," Noveschosch reported. "He had several severe wounds, broken bones, and internal bleeding. The autopsy confirmed that it was a car."

Cub placed both hands to his mouth to muffle his gasp of horror. "H-he was… hit by a driver?"

Ahmed nodded. "I'm afraid so," he confirmed. "We believe it was a someone at night who didn’t look where they were going, but we don’t have any clues pointing to the perpetrator yet."

Not being able to hear any more of this conversation, Scar turned around, shoving Cub out of the way and bolting back into the apartment.

"Wait! Scar—!"

Ignoring his roommate’s plead, Scar continued to run. The room was spinning, all noise was drowned out with the blood rushing to his ears, his pounding heart, and his feet slapping on the hardwood floor. 

Tears welled up in his eyes, trailing down his cheeks and blurring his vision. Despite there not being anyone else in his apartment, the cowboy felt the urge to cover his eyes with his hand, so that no one would see him cry.

He made it to his bedroom and slammed the door, locking it behind him. Scar rested his back against the wall, trying to regulate his breathing. 

He let Officer Noveschosch’s words finally sink in, and the reality of the situation took its toll on him.

He lowered his arm from his face, tears welling up until he couldn't contain them anymore. 

Scar allowed himself to cry for the first time in years. He covered his face with both hands and loudly sobbed as he slid down the wall, slumping against the door until he was on the ground. He brought his knees to his chest, shivering and feeling cold. 

Many thoughts rushed through his head, but one specific one always kept coming back.

_"I’m sorry, Joe. I'm so sorry!"_

_**A.N: I have some plans for this fic @_@** _

_**I read the entirety of My Immortal right before writing this and I feel like the quality of my writing is absolutely non-existent now. Help me.** _

_**Also, youtuber cameo anyone?** _


	2. Chapter 2

_ He didn’t remember the crash. It was strange.  _

_ In theory, there should have been a recollection of something, like the screech of metal on pavement or the sickening crunch of his body as it got flung to the side of the road.  _

_ He didn’t understand what happened at first. One moment, he was crossing the street, moping about his and Scar’s argument. The next, nothing.  _

_ Static.  _

_ As he came to, he saw the body. Broken glasses and a blue T-shirt on a bloodied, somewhat handsome face, spine bent at an unnatural angle. _

_ Joe almost didn’t recognize that corpse as his own.  _

_ He didn’t feel scared or sick, really. He didn’t feel anything. At first, he thought that it was just shock setting in.  _

_ It wasn’t.  _

_ That’s one of the perks of being a ghost; your emotions are dulled down to the max. You can’t feel.  _

_ After a couple of days, the police finally found his body. The guy that hit Joe was long gone, and his roommates didn’t think of filing a missing persons report during his away period.  _

_ It wasn’t their fault. How were they supposed to know that he was going to die? _

_It’s not like Joe minded being dead too much, anyway. It wasn’t too different from being alive, except he could neither feel emotions, nor touch any objects around him._

_ His only real regret was not saying goodbye to his friends.  _

_ His first roommate, Scar, was quite a fragile person. He grows attached to people easily, especially those that he knows for a long time, so it’s not easy for him to let go. He‘s taking his friend’s death badly, blaming himself and insisting the whole situation was his fault while locking himself in his room for weeks on end.  _

_ Joe wanted nothing more than to give him a hug, but his transparent hands effortlessly passed through his roommate’s sobbing figure. Scar shivered.  _

_ His other roommate, Cub, was a strong guy. Although the ghost could tell that death screwed him up, he kept a brave face on for the other man.  _

_ They both needed it, although Scar didn't want to admit it.  _

_ Joe knew that it hurt to be sad like this. It was the kind of pain that would rip your insides out and stomp on them out of pure, undiluted spite.  _

_ Some days, he was glad for this wall between him and his feelings. Others, he wasn’t. It was frustrating to not be able to cry or scream like a human because of his lacking emotional capacity. _

_ Joe’s soul was unwillingly tied to his roommates. He knew that by now, his other friends would have received the news of his death, and he wanted to check on them. However, he couldn’t walk too far away from Scar and Cub without being pulled back towards the apartment.  _

_ The ghost was essentially stuck, forced to see his roommates grieve and suffer because of his death.  _

_ He wished he could bring himself to care more. _

_  
  
  
_

_ **Joe POV? Joe POV.** _

_ **If you enjoyed, be sure to leave a kudos or comment! It really helps out the author!** _


End file.
